Tag Archives: culture

Six days…

That’s right. We’ve only got six more days to raise a little more than $500.

544 to be exact.

I’d like to thank Diane Randall, Catherine Johnson, librarylifehack, Patrise Henkel, and all the others who contributed to this campaign.

Because this is quite a big amount that needs to be raised, I’m going to launch a new offer: anyone who contributes to this campaign, regardless of the amount, will receive a free e-book copy of my upcoming release, a novella entitled The Art of Being Alone Without Feeling Lonely. This novella will be released in about a week, before I’ll release my next novel, One Third of a Wheel.

So, yeah, you can contribute here (any amount) and regardless of the perks (if any) you select, you’ll also receive an e-book copy of this new release. You can contribute here, and don’t forget, any contribution matters.

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Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby

The-Great-Gatsby-Baz-Luhrmann-myLusciousLife.com-Carey-Mulligan-Leonardo-DiCaprioMost of you already know that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is my favorite novel. I’ve made a custom out of reading it once a year, so I just had to go see the movie on the night it premiered here in Constanta.

And I wasn’t dissapointed.

Baz Luhrmann managed to produce a movie with strange qualities, most of which will appeal only to those who have read and loved Fitzgerald’s novel. When it comes to book to movie adaptations, most producers are maybe too keen to leave their own mark, to change things and show us what they see. Luhrmann shows us how this decade sees this classic novel, how our decade sees decadence and opulence and slowly peels off all the greedy, dark layers of human nature in this modern world. Continue reading →

The little things…

thingsWe’ve been told (and we keep on telling ourselves on a regular basis) that life finds a way, that somehow things turn out for the better. That if you want it, you can have it.

Sadly, that’s not true.

Do you know what keeps me up some nights? It’s the fear that somehow I won’t be able to write anymore. That somehow life’s going to take that away from me. And that I won’t be able to find a way, that life just won’t want to present me with a solution. Continue reading →

Weekend ad sale

saleFor a two day period you’ll have a chance to buy advertising on this blog for half the usual price. Here are the options:

  • Post Sponsor – $15 - Receive a mention as sponsor at the end of a blog post. This also includes a short description of your website and a link.
  • Text Ad – $25 – Your name (or your business/blog) listed in the sidebar, along with a short description (20 words or less) and a link to your website. One month of advertising.
  • Sponsored Post – $50 - I will write a blog post about your blog, or review one of your books, or interview you about your art. That’s right, this post is restricted to art related blogs/websites. You choose how you want the blog post to be, and what you want to contain. Also, the post will be kept “sticky” at the top of my website for an entire week.
  • Graphic Ad – $125 - A 300X250 graphic ad in the sidebar of my blog, linking to your website. I can design the ad for you, at no additional cost. Nothing illegal or immoral though. One month of advertising.

The only thing you need to do is to add a valid e-mail address when you buy the chosen ad option, so I can contact you. That’s all, basically.

Why failing is (kind of) a good thing

failingThey say you can’t beat a man who doesn’t give up.

The first piece of writing I ever wrote was rubbish. And I kept on adding more rubbish. Then I wrote something else. And then someone said I was a retard. And I wanted to prove them wrong.

I’ve failed time and time again. In all aspects of life.

The first novel I self-published sold 4 copies in 4 months. It got a single 2 star review on Goodreads, and then I unpublished the damn thing.

And yet I didn’t give up.

Continue reading →

A lonely job…

lonely“An artist is always alone – if he is an artist.” – Henry Miller

Writing is a lonely job, no doubt about it. And no matter how successful you might become, you’re still alone. It’s the inexorable truth of the writer’s condition: you sit at your desk, in an empty room or in the most crowded McDonald’s, and you’re alone. You just do your thing.

Of course, this poses a rather interesting question: if you spend that much time alone, how do you find stuff to write about? Continue reading →

A bunch of thanks

First of all (and most importantly) I’d like to thank seidosan, John Jaksich, whataheartcanhold, Nathan Blixt, Karen Robiscoe, and all the others who contributed to my Indiegogo campaign.

Now for that nasty part: we’re currently somewhere between 30% and 31%, with $305 raised out of a goal of $1,000. It can be done. There are still lots of perks available, going for as low as $5.

Remember: any contribution or like or share counts. And the sooner we raise the money, the better.

You can help out here.

Let’s keep this blog alive (and well…),

Cristian

Spring e-book bundle

bundle2I decided to release an e-book bundle with all my releases. It’s sort of a like a limited time offer, and it runs out at the end of the month.

What do you get?

1. Jazz – my debut novel, which currently holds a 4.9 rating on Amazon.com. I had this to say about it:

A heartbreaking portrayal of ambition, treachery, and deception, Jazz tells the story of Chris Sommers, an aspiring writer from New York, who travels to Paris in the hopes of meeting Amber, a mysterious and beautiful woman he has always been irresistibly drawn to.
Chris is soon thrust into a world where everyone seems to be playing a dangerous and corrupt game. Anything is permissible, and even secrets that have been locked away inside the most hidden drawers of the soul will resurface. Continue reading →

Movies about writers

I’m not trying to write a top of the best movies about writers. I’m just making a list of the ones that I really enjoyed – for various reasons of course.

Finding Forrester (2000)

In a way, I just couldn’t start with any other  movie, simply because Finding Forrester was so cute and sweet and sincere that I almost cried at the end.

Starring Sean Connery and his manly voice in the role of William Forrester, a very successful and yet reclusive writer, this movie actually has some pretty good advice on writing. Continue reading →

Life’s not fair

life2It was about time for my legendary bad luck to do some damage. Now, the Internet modem died, which kind of brought me back to the the early 1900s. Or at least that’s how I felt. And now I’ve got a couple hundred e-mails to read…

Of course, the Indiegogo campaign failed to raise the money it needed.

But all this got me thinking. About life, about those moments when we feel (and often say) that life’s not fair, or that some things happen for a reason or for no reason at all.

You know, that kind of determinism that’s tied to someone upstairs or others around us. Or someone half a world away. Continue reading →